Reinforced shipping container



Oct. 20, 1970 R. F. HUTCHINS 3,534,900

REINFORCED SHIPPING CONTAINER Filed April 29, 1968 lNl/E/VTOR. RA YMOND F. HUTCH/NS United States Patent 3,534,900 REINFORCED SHIPPING CONTAINER Raymond F. Hutchins, Urbandale, Iowa, assignor to Container Corporation of America, Chicago, III., a corporation of Delaware Filed Apr. 29, 1968, Ser. No. 724,955

Int. Cl. B65d /22 US. Cl. 229-33 2 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A reinforced paperboard shipping container having flaps hinged to the upper edges of the end and side walls and folded inwardly to underlie the closure fiaps and thereby provide additional stacking strength for the container.

This invention relates to shipping containers and more particularly to paperboard containers having integral reinforcing means for providing additional strength to accommodate their stacking with similarcontainers.

It is an object of this invention to provide a shipping container formed from a unitary blank of paperboard having integral reinforcing means for strengthening the side walls of the container and also having integral reinforcing flap means at the top of the container both of which are adapted to provide additional stacking strength for the container. p

A more specific object of the invention is the provision, in a container of the type described, of inner flap means hinged to upper edges of the end walls and portions of the side walls of the container and adapted to be folded inwardly and underlie the closure flaps of the container to form an inner stacking shelf to provide added stacking strength for the container.

These and other objects of the invention will be apparent from an examination of the following description and drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a container embodying features of the invention;

FIG. 2 is a transverse vertical section taken on lines 22 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a longitudinal vertical section taken on line 3-3 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view similar to FIG. 1, but illustrating the container in a partially closed condition; and

FIG. 5 is a plan view of the blank from which the container illustrated in the other views may be formed.

It will be understood that, for purposes of clarity, certain elements have been intentionally omitted from certain views where they are believed to be illustrated to better advantage in other views.

Referring now to the drawing for a better understanding of the invention, it will be seen that the container illustrated in FIG. 1 may be formed from a generally rectangular, unitary blank 12 of foldable paperboard illustrated in FIG. 5 of the drawing.

The container includes a preferably rectangular bottom wall 20 having a pair of opposed end walls 22 hingedly attached to the end edges of the bottom wall along hinge line 24. The container also includes a pair of opposed side walls 26 each of which includes an outer side wall panel 32 hingedly attached to the lower edge to the related side edge of the bottom Wall 20 along a hinge line 32 and an inner panel formed from a pair of co-planar inner panels sections 34 each of which is hinged to a 3,534,900 Patented Oct. 20, 1970 related end edge of an end wall 22 along a hinge line 36. When the container is erected or formed end wall panels 22 and side wall outer panels 30 are folded upwardly to a vertical position, and side wall panel inner sections 34 are folded at right angles to the end walls so as to lie in co-planar relationship against the inside surfaces of side wall outer panels 30 and thereby form the inner panels of the side walls. The side wall inner panels sections may be stitched, glued, or otherwise fastened to the side wall outer panels in order to form a rigid box-like structure open at the top. Hingedly attached to the upper edges of the side wall outer panels 30 along hinge lines 42 are a pair of outer closure fiaps 40 which may be folded inwardly to close the top of the container.

A major portion of the invention in this case resides in the provision of end and side reinforcing flaps 50 and 54 which are hingedly attached along hinge lines 52 and 56 to the upper edges of end walls 22 and side wall inner panels sections 34, respectively. Thus, when the container is erected and filled, and before the outer closure flaps are folded into closed position, the reinforcing flaps are folded inwardly at right angles to the panels to which they are attached, as shown in FIG. 4.

The purpose of these reinforcing flaps is to form an additional shelf around the periphery of the upper portion of the container so that when the container is stacked with like containers it will not be necessary to have perfect alignment between the side walls of related containers in order to transmit the stacking force from the side walls of one container to those of another container. Thus, ad ditional stacking strength is provided for the containers by these reinforcing flaps as well as by the side wall inner panel sections which also provide added rigidity and strength for the side walls of the container.

If desired the end walls 22 may be provided with hand holes 60 to facilitate grasping or lifting of the container.

It will be noted that by this economical arrangement wherein the container is formed from a substantially rectangular blank, as shown in FIG. 5, there is practically no waste of paper stock in nesting blanks when they are cut from roll or sheet stock to form the containers. With this arrangement an appreciable amount of stacking strength is provided for the container without the necessity of an appreciable amount of extra material required for the reinforcing flaps.

What is claimed is:

1. A reinforced s ipping container, formed from a unitary blank of foldab e paperboard, especially suitable for stacking with similar containers, comprising:

(a) a bottom wall;

(b) opposed pairs of side and end walls upstanding from said bottom and connected to each other to form a box-like enclosure open at the top;

(c) each of said side walls including:

(i) an outer panel hinged at its lower edge to a related side edge of said bottom wall;

(ii) an inner panel having a pair of co-planar panel sections hinged to corresponding side edges of said end walls and folded to lie against the related side wall outer panel to provide double thickness side walls for said container;

(iii) said inner panel sections when in the erected position thereof having lower edges in bearing contact with said bottom wall;

(iv) and having upper edges thereof coextensive with upper edges of said walls when erected;

(d) relatively narrow reinforcing flaps hinged to upper edges of said end walls and said side wall inner panel sections and folded inwardly, approximately normal to said end and side walls, to provide additional stacking strength for said container;

(e) closure flaps hinged to upper edges of said side Wall outer panels and folded inwardly, normal to said side walls, to overlie said reinforcing flaps and close the top of said container.

2. A container according to claim 1, wherein said blank is substantially rectangular in shape.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS FOREIGN PATENTS 800,423 8/1958 Great Britain.

DAVIS T. MOORHEAD, Primary Examiner 

